--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson <mjackson74@> wrote: > > > > So during the course nothing substantive was done for > > these folks? I mean beyond telling them to do more > > asanas or something? > > Depends on the course. On small ATR courses, no > nothing in particular was really done. On larger > courses, they might have been referred to one of > the resident quacks...uh...I mean doctors. > > But it was clear that no real effort was made to > help any of these people who were twitching > uncontrollably or having symptoms that looked > for all the world like Tourette syndrome or > worse, because the prevailing myth was always > "TM is 100% life supporting." No one was willing > to go up against that and add, "...for many > people, but for others, it may cause problems." > > Anyone I ever spoke to who was going through this > commented on the "Blame the victim" mentality they > were exposed to. It was always, "What are YOU > doing wrong that this is happening to you? We > all 'know' that it 'shouldn't' be happening."
Just to follow up, Michael, here's the essential conundrum posed by all of this. I worked for some time in the West Coast Regional Office of the TMO, arranging all the weekend and longer residence courses. On the one hand, we were told by MMY's core dogma that TM was "100% life supporting," and that it could not *possibly* have any negative effects. Simply can't happen. On the other hand, as part of what we did for the TMO, we were asked to tell the course leaders and course participants that while they were on the course, they could not drive, they could not even leave the facility, on longer courses they could not go anywhere even on the facility grounds unless they were accompanied by their "buddy," and that they definitely shouldn't make any important decisions while they were on the course because their judgment might be impaired. If a drug had that many admitted side effects, you wouldn't be able to sell it without a prescription.
